Biography

Welsh pianist Llŷr Williams is widely admired for his profound musical intelligence, and for the expressive and communicative nature of his interpretations. He has worked with orchestras including the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, Scottish Chamber Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Symphony Orchestra, Royal Liverpool Phiharmonic Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, Hallé Orchestra, London Mozart Players, Sinfonia Cymru, I Pomeriggi Musicali, Meininger Hofkapelle, Berner Kammerorchester, and the Mozarteum Orchestra in Salzburg. A regular performer in the Wigmore Hall’s main piano series, he also appears at the BBC Proms in London, Gilmore International Keyboard Festival in the USA and has given many acclaimed performances at the Edinburgh International Festival. He is a regular performer at the East Neuk Festival in Scotland, Piano aux Jacobins in Toulouse, and currently artist in residence at Galeri Caernarfon in Wales.

Williams is an acclaimed performer of Beethoven with one complete piano sonata cycle under his belt and another under way. The first one in the form of an epic two-week marathon during the Edinburgh International Festival won him the prestigious South Bank Show award, the second spread over three seasons, at the Wigmore Hall and Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama in Cardiff started in October 2014 and will run until June 2017. In January 2017 he completed a successful collaboration with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra in performances of all five Beethoven piano concerti. The 2016/17 season included recital debuts at the Washington Performing Arts series, Da Camera in Houston and Portland Piano International.

Llŷr Williams’ great love of lieder has led him to become one of the regular official accompanists at the BBC Cardiff Singer of the World Competition, resulting in further partnerships with Jamie Barton in Edinburgh, baritone Quinn Kelsey, and Mongolian bass Amartuvshin Enkhbat. He also has an ongoing collaboration with violinist Alexander Janiczek, with whom he recently appeared at Mozarteum Salzburg and the Wigmore Hall.Llŷr Williams’ eclectic taste is reflected in his discography. His latest release features the Wigmore Hall Beethoven cycle, the first four volumes of which are already available exclusively on digital platforms, while his critically acclaimed CD Wagner Without Words (Signum, August 2014) reflects Williams’ intimate relationship with operatic music. Williams had previously recorded two solo albums for Signum, the first one in 2010 with music by Mussorgsky, Debussy, and Liszt and the second in 2012 featuring works by Liszt. Llŷr Williams is the subject of two films produced for S4C: the first of which won a Welsh BAFTA for Best Music Program, and the second featured his debut at Carnegie Hall.

Born in 1976 in Pentrebychan, North Wales, Llŷr Williams studied music at The Queen’s College, Oxford and went on to take up a postgraduate scholarship at the Royal Academy of Music where he won every available prize and award. He is also an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama. He was an active member of the Live Music Now! scheme for several years and was selected for Young Concert Artists in 2002. From 2003-2005 he was a BBC New Generation Artist and in 2004 received a Borletti-Buitoni Trust award. ​www.llyrwilliams.com